WolframAlpha

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Description

Remember the Star Trek computer? It's finally happening--with Wolfram|Alpha. Building on 25 years of development led by Stephen Wolfram, Wolfram|Alpha has rapidly become the world's definitive source for instant expert knowledge and computation.

Across thousands of domains--with more continually added--Wolfram|Alpha uses its vast collection of algorithms and data to compute answers and generate reports for you.

Parts of Wolfram|Alpha are used in the Apple Siri Assistant; this app gives you access to the full power of the Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine. Domains covered by Wolfram|Alpha include:

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"A Super-Powered Resource From The Future"

7.3

Excels at science

Handy bitesize summaries

Solve a crossword!

Google might suffice

US focus

No natural language

Expert knowledge--from algebra to people to fractals

THE VERDICT

Whatever you need to know, WolframAlpha is the place to go. A juiced-up cross between Siri and Google, it lets you ask for conversions, population rates or environmental stats and provides all the detail you could need in response. While philosophical and other more niche questions can't yet be answered, the clarity and depth of information provided is superb.

THE PROS

WolframAlpha excels in scientific fields, reliably working out solutions to difficult sums or providing the perfect chart. Knowledge that would have been available on Google is displayed in a much more user-friendly way, with handy bitesize summaries. It will sometimes surprise you with what it knows--it can even solve crosswords, for example.

THE CONS

If you do not have demanding questions, Google or Siri will do the job for free. Data is focused on the US. Natural language queries generally fall flat. You must purchase an additional pack to search with an image.